The present invention relates to a method of analysis of the kinetic properties of a golf club head, and relates to a golf club having the golf club head. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of analysis for simulating properties involving the deformation of a golf club head, a method being carried out by a finite element method using a model reproduced on a computer.
The finite element method has been known as a computation method for analyzing properties of an object with an intricate shape on a computer by dividing the object into a plurality of elements, and by evaluating some physical quantities in each element. The finite element method has an advantage that, when a structural design is made with this method, the user can understand phenomena occurring on the object even if the user does not necessarily have advanced knowledge of material mechanics or elastodynamics. Therefore, the finite element method is used widely to analyze various structures and articles.
In the finite element method, processing is performed to generate the collection of elements beforehand, depending on the phenomenon or physical quantity to be evaluated or on the construction of the object. The mode of this generation of elements is often called “sectioning of mesh”, and this is known as a factor that may significantly influence the computation accuracy of the finite element method.
On the other hand, an object having an intricate three-dimensional shape, such as a golf club head (hereinafter referred to as a “club head”), may also be analyzed with the finite element method at the design stage to select the material thereof or to determine the construction thereof for the purpose of appropriately designing a club head in which, for example, resilience performance and hitting sound are balanced (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-65996).
As one ideal element model to analyze the kinetic properties of an object by using the finite element method, modeling is performed assuming that at least some elements are formed by polygons each having a small thickness. Such a model is especially suitable for the analysis of a hollow club head such as a driver and a wood. In the modeling, the thickness of the actual construction reflected appropriately with respect to the surrounding elements, when computing bending deformation etc. and elements that are triangles or quadrangles (pentahedrons or hexahedrons) having a thickness, or shell elements, are used. To make computations with high accuracy with the shell elements, the polygon of each element surface can be made a regular polygon. However, it is difficult to analyze the kinetic properties of a club head by such regular polygonal shell elements only. The reason for this is that, since the shape of a club head is intricate, difficulties arise in dividing a modeled club head into elements and providing all shell elements contained therein by regular polygons.